My Holy Water: Avene Thermal Spring Water

Call me crazy..

..but I believe in this can of goodness right here. I realized I’ve blabbered on and on about this in empties posts and such but haven’t really devoted an entire entry to it yet. And believe me, it really deserves one!
To start off, Avene Thermal Spring Water is essentially just water that emanates from a spring in France where it undergoes a natural filtration process that makes it the purest form of water possible. How? Because it has a balance of cations and anions (refresh your Chemistry lessons!) that make its pH level 7 (neutral), not one bit acidic nor one bit basic. Just perfectly balanced. So what does that mean for the skin then?
First, it depends on location and quality of water. If you’re in the US or Europe where tap water is safe for drinking, then the pH level benefits I’m prattling on about may not matter to you at all. But let’s say here in the Philippines where tap water can not be safely consumed and is/may be/most probably ladened with impurities, that’s where the balanced goodness of Avene makes sense.
When spritzed after washing your face, it sort of brings back the skin into equilibrium after it has been stripped off its moisture, natural oils, etc. Hydrating, it is. But to get the best benefits out of this canned water, there’s more to it than just spraying and ditching. Here’s what I do:

After washing, spray mist evenly all over your face.
After 30 seconds, while still damp, apply serum or moisturizer on top.

That’s it.

Not earth-shattering, ground-breaking nor mystery-solving – but that simple technique makes all the difference. In my hopeless bouts of breakouts months ago, this seemingly innocuous step was the game changer. What this does is seal in all the goodness of Avene into your skin, including the hydrating and supposedly-healing properties.

As opposed to just letting the mist evaporate, leaving your skin drier, which we don’t want at all! Dry skin = more prone to wrinkles. So those who like the clean tight feeling after washing your face, UH-UH, NO. Moisturize while still damp, ladies. Or if you’re spraying it on midday to freshen up, don’t forget to pat off the excess water after a minute or two.

Results?

In 2-3 days’ time, the breakouts, redness and irritation stopped and calmed down. Almost half of my face was in serious angry mode prior to using Avene, nothing seemed to tame it down. The peeling was minimized due to the moisturizer I used, but the redness and non-stop onslaught of pimples were only nipped when I started using Avene.
In a week’s time, I only had blemishes to show for the battle that ensued. So you can see why I am a believer of this canned water right here. It really did so much for my skin. Now that I don’t break out (knock on wood) anymore, I use this for maintenance to keep my skin clear, hydrated and smooth. I’ve toned down on my skincare routine, but this remains as a must-have, cant-be-without product.

Other Uses

I recently got a peel and what do you know, while I was itching and squirming my way out of the stinging, Dr. Joan (my derma) whips this out and sprays it all over my face. It reminded me of the epidural feeling that I had during childbirth that made me want to hug and kiss my anesthesiologist right then and there.
My ever-doubtful of a husband who keeps on dismissing this as a pure marketing scam even retracted his words when he used this for a rash that won’t stop itching and was amazed at how it almost magically toned down after spraying.
I spray this on my babygirl’s face after giving her a bath as well as when she has a sore bum from wearing diaper.
For makeup, it can be spritzed on to relieve the makeup from its heavy powdery feel. It’s not to prolong makeup (as a reader once asked), but more of a finishing spray to avoid cakiness.

In Summary

To finish this, I will say that this is not for everyone. If you have relatively good skin and/or water quality doesn’t affect your skin at all, you may not see results at all from this. Perhaps if you have irritations, burns, rashes, then you’d have a reason to reach for this.
But for those who have dull, relatively problematic skin and are willing to try out something au naturale, then invest in a small can of this first and see how it fares. Who knows? Good luck!

I bought a mini pack of this in Singapore with 3 smaller cans in one box and I like it too! I wish they sold a small can version here in the PH also since I like bringing it around with me to freshen up my face in the middle of the day. I don’t want to have to lug around the giant can…

Woah! You have crazy loads of backup (if those are not empties, lol)! Anyway, this looks interesting. Where to buy and how much? And how does this differ from the Evian Spray whatever? Haha momma’s got a lot of questions! Lol!

My husband bought them in Europe — 3 big ones for less than the price of 1 here!
I think the difference is in their mineral content (which Evian has more of which can dry out the skin, but dont quote me on that). Also, they differ in the way they dispense mist — Evian spritzes harder (?!) than Avene, so one spritz medyo basa na agad buong face mo with Evian. Avene’s spritzer is lighter, more toned down so you can spray longer and more evenly on your whole face. 🙂

Hi Abby! My scars are medyo recent (like 2 months old) so my peel was medyo mild lang. Dra. Joan of Clarence Centre did a peel na combination of TCA/Glycolic/Tretinoin, I don’t know what it’s called though. I suggest consult with a derma na lang so they can reco the most effective peel for your scars! Good luck 🙂

I used to not-believe in facial mists until I used one midday and holy crap. Face reviver! I just use any brand though. In fact, I’m not even sure if plain water would be fine- hehe. Though FYI, I use Kosmea Rose Water and it smells like grandma but gives such an AWESOME glow.

P.S. sooo great meeting you yesterday. Hope we can meet baby Selene (and her cute cheeks!) next time, hehe 😛

Our skin’s natural average pH is acidic and in the 5-5.5 range, so putting a neutral product on it will raise the pH which is not ideal. Lower skin pH (acidic and oily skin type) has been linked with reduced signs of aging when womens’ natural skin pHs were measured. Higher pH ( more basic/neutral) is linked to dryness and compromised skin barrier.
Some women have noticed a drying effect from using this product for this reason. They already have a higher than average pH so it accelerates drying/aging. If the pH of this product is as high as you say, it would work best for oilier skin types (who usually have lower than average skin pH) to neutralize it and reduce oil production.

Hi i loves your review i am recently using this thermal water in avene it leaves my skins very fresh but i have a question, i have like smal brown spots on my face prior to an allergic reaction i have to a product and im spraying the thermal water on my face and its like strating to peel in aome way i think i wake up and its like kinda peeling my face a bit , it looks likea food sign since i want those spots to go away ,what do you think? Does thermal water make yor skin peel?